


Maybe Next Year...

by suprgrl1995



Series: VenSabi Modern AU [4]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Bonding, Broken Promises, Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Presents, F/M, No Romance, Sarcasm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:08:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27948836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/suprgrl1995/pseuds/suprgrl1995
Summary: “Hey Sabi?”“Yeah?”“Maybe next year will be less shitty for both of us.”“Yeah. Maybe.”Inspired by stellamedii's 'If all hope was lost, would you help me?', in which Sabrina gets a Christmas visitor, and the duo share a silent night together.
Relationships: Ventus (Kingdom Hearts)/Original Character(s), Ventus (Kingdom Hearts)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: VenSabi Modern AU [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2008261
Kudos: 1





	Maybe Next Year...

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [If all hope was lost, would you help me?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26118586) by [stellamedii](https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellamedii/pseuds/stellamedii). 



It was usually a lie that Sabrina couldn't feel any emotion than pure pessimism. At the moment, her mouth was pursed into a thin line to keep herself from shouting against her adoptive father. His words had stopped making sense a good three minutes ago. She didn't even know why he was still talking to her- the only words she needed to hear was 'I will not be home for Christmas.' The addendum of 'I might need to give you a rain check on New Years too.' was also unneeded, and possibly just as frustrating.

To his credit, he really did try not to have the whole holiday week booked with anyone but family. This was only the second year that he wasn't able to smooth over whomever he needed to be home. But it still hurt. He might as well had reached through the phone and pulled her heart out of her chest.

“Please Sabrina, I know you're mad, and I did everything that I could. I swear on my life.”

“I'm not mad.” she told him. A bold faced lie, but she was a good actor. “If anything, that just means we get to go on an even bigger vacation later, right?”

“Didn't we plan on going back to Paris?”

Even if he couldn't see it, Sabrina shook her head. “Ireland.” she corrected him. “I want to spend the night in one of those historical castles again.”

“You just want to wear a cape and dramatically swish it whenever you go down a flight of stairs.”

“Hell yeah.” she agreed with a soft snort. “Don't forget the dramatic entrances into the ballroom accompanied with slow, romantic waltz music.”

Hearing his laugh was a small comfort. She would have liked it more if he was sitting next to her. After awhile, her father let out a soft sigh.

“I love you, my little princess.” he told her in a gentle tone. There was a small indication of weariness in his voice. Sabrina had to close her eyes in a vain attempt to hold back the waterworks. She hated crying.

“Love you too, you old coot.” she mused back. For a moment, her voice broke- revealing just how much she was trying to hold back. But she didn't give her old man time to comment on it; she hung up the call as quickly as she could. The next moment after, she smacked her head against the cool kitchen counter. Her arms tangled around her head as she let out a low moan of annoyance. She should have known he wasn't going to come around tonight; if he was, he would have been home by now.

She probably would have just given up right then and there had her phone not buzzed. The teen took one look at whoever had messaged her and immediately grimaced. Letting out a grunt, Sabrina took a few steps away from the counter and looked up toward the cabinets. Intuition told her that whatever camera set up to spy on her in the kitchen was placed on top of the fridge. She'd almost assume it was the fridge itself if they had sprung for one of those 'smart' appliances. Thankfully, her father didn't see much use in it. The Alexa, on the other hand, was absolutely bugged for sound input when it was plugged in. That bit had been confirmed to her some months back.

Turning her attention back to her phone, Sabrina flicked through her messages to answer her most persistent pester.

_Mister Jekyll_ : Looks like you're home alone for the holiday, little girl.

_Lady Aesthetics_ : Tell me something I don't know. Fuck off.

_Lady Aesthetics_ : Wait. Why are you awake? There's no way you're pissed because I got ditched.

_Mister Jekyll_ : I thought you wanted me to tell you something you didn't know.

_Mister Jekyll_ : But don't flatter yourself. Space cadet saw something that wasn't meant for him, and you can imagine the results.

_Lady Aesthetics_ : I refuse to believe that it had to do with me.

_Mister Jekyll_ : Fine. Believe what you want. Either way, I've got a surprise for you. You're going to get a visitor around 11 if I leave enough breadcrumbs. You might even get two gifts too. The one is red wrapping paper should not be opened around him though.

_Lady Aesthetics_ : Are you finally gifting me those his-hers guns we talked about the other day? I'm flattered.

_Mister Jekyll_ : Let's just say, you'll be absolutely vibrating the moment you touch it.

_Lady Aesthetics_ : Comforting.

_Mister Jekyll_ : Oh, most definitely.

_Mister Jekyll_ : Above all, you'll have twelve whole hours of not being monitored by me or my comrades.

_Lady Aesthetics_ : So I AM about to be murdered? Not a very poetic date to go out on. I expected more from you.

_Mister Jekyll_ : Unfortunately for you, I've grown attached. I'll have a special punishment for you later. For now, get ready for your visitor.

Raising a rather skeptic eyebrow, Sabrina once more looked up at where she suspected the hidden camera was. Stupid illegal GoPros and their ability to be smaller than a pinkie nail. Shrugging, the teen started to make her way to her room- she apparently was going to have a guest. How fun.

. . .

Sure enough, just a few minutes after 11 PM, the doorbell rang. Not quite sure which version of the blonde haired, blue eyed pester she'd be experiencing tonight, Sabrina opened the door without a look of interest. That quickly changed when her eyes drifted from his face to his hair.

“Oh. My. _God_.”

Ventus gave her a confused tilt of his head before absently reached for his hair. Half of it had been tied a bright red, and the other side a festive green. When he tilted his head in a certain direction, sparkles in his hair glistened in the porch light. It didn't stop there- Ven was even wearing a tacky Christmas sweater that detailed a large present made of several layers of knit. It look incredibly top heavy, really, and Sabrina had no sense of envy toward him. In his hands were two presents; one was wrapped in green paper and not much bigger than a ring box, the other was a bit longer than that and wrapped in red paper.

“What's that look for?” he questioned, noticing her weird expression as she continued to stare at his hair. A smile then drew on his lips as he then mused, “You scared of a little tinsel?”

“Hardly.” came the undignified huff. “I just suddenly remembered that you got away with _that_ while we were at school. There's no way that your hair complies with the 'only natural hair dye colors' rule in the student handbook.”

“It's natural when you're Christmascore.” he spat back with a little razz of his tongue.

Rolling her eyes, the young woman told him, “Just get inside.” before moving a little out of the way for him to actually enter.

Ventus didn't need to be told twice, practically skipping inside her house before noticing something. Or rather, the lack of something.

“You guys didn't decorate.” he pouted.

“Not true.” Sabrina objected. “We have a tree.”

“Where?!”

“By the staircase,” she informed him before leading him toward the kitchen.

Ven bounced with every step he took. The grin on his face was just bursting with joy in seeing what the tree at Sabrina's house looked like. It had been placed near the L-shaped stairway, well lit with some sparse decorations here and there. He wasn't much of a minimalist, but he supposed it would do. As he set the presents he was holding under the tree, something about it just seemed… off. Ven took a closer look at it; taking a branch between his finger tips and even daring to take a bite out of the ends.

“It's not even a real tree.” he moaned; his pouting starting anew. He then looked to her with an almost puppy-like disappointment. “You know, for someone who came to school in a white limo on her first day of school, you sure do know how to skimp out on the holiday decorations.”

“Well, I'm sorry that I was invited to three different soirees since break started. Two of which occurred outside of this state, so I was away for a good week.”

“But you're _rich_.” Ven continued to pout. “Shouldn't you have maids and butlers catering to your every whim at every moment of the day? Maybe even set up a Christmas light show spectacular outside your window? What's the point?”

“Don't you dare diss Miss Astra.” Sabrina snapped at him. “She comes by every Wednesday to clean while I'm at school. We gave her three weeks off for the holiday.”

“You can't be that lonely.”

Sabrina's face hardened into something so dark that Ven almost got a shiver up his spine. Looking him dead in the eye, she outstretched her arms to gesture at the entirety of the house.

“Does _anything_ about this house make you think I could be _that_ lonely?” she questioned. Her voice was just as spine chilling, and deeply bitter.

Deflating a little and averting his eyes, Ven let out a small, “Touche.” But he quickly shook his head. He came here in a mission, didn't he? Never would have thought that giving Sabi a little Christmas cheer would be so difficult. Maybe it was time to divert the conversation a bit. Something to eat, maybe. He had skipped dinner tonight out of spite and he was just starting to feel a tiny bit peckish.

“Just one question,” he then tried to ask her, “No candy canes?”

“I've got candy cigarettes.” She offered, her tone still dark, as she went over to one of the kitchen counters. She opened up a drawer and pulled out what certainly looked like a box of cigarettes. As walked back over, she fiddled with the top. She pulled out a white stick from the box then offered the rest to Ven. “100 percent sugar, tastes like chalk, and almost just as smooth as 'em too. You'd never know the difference.”

Ven's eyes widened as he reached over to take a candy cigarette from the box. He immediately stuck the stick of sugar in his mouth and chewed on it a little. It really was like eating chalk- but the candy cigar had a bit more resistance to it when he bit down though. You could almost crack a tooth if you wanted to.

“Well,” he then decided, unsure if he wanted to keep the candy cigarette in his mouth or hold it between his fingers, “Since it's too late to really do some Christmas binging, how 'bout you open up my present? I think you'll like it. Meant to give it to you at school, but I… I got a little side tracked.”

“Sounds like the biggest understatement of the year.” Sabrina snorted. Regardless, sticking her candy cigar in her mouth as well, she went over to the tree and picked up the green gift wrapped present. She then picked up another present from the pile, one that she had personally wrapped herself.

“I have a present for you too.” she told him. “Here, catch.”

Ven let out a surprised yelp as she tossed the large square gift his way. He was just barely able to catch it with both hands. As eager as he now was to open it, he patiently waited for Sabrina to come back over. He took her cue as she sat down by the tree, backs against the wall that bordered the living room and kitchen.

“On the count of three.” he playfully told her. “One… two...”

Neither of them waited for him to say three before tearing into the presents.

Sabrina was not surprised to know that Ven's gift was in a ring box. She just didn't expect to open that up to find a gold plated necklace inside. The charm at the end was of a rather simple looking crown. But still, it looked nice. Giving a moment's worth of thought, Sabrina started to take the necklace out of the ring box. Ven next to her was rather disappointed with what his present was.

“It's a book.” he said in a flat voice. Sabrina made a small sound of inquisition as she looked over at him for a moment.

“A portfolio, actually.” she told him as she put the necklace on. “Open it up and skip the first few pages. The foreword gets kinda winded.”

Still bummed at what appeared to be a bum gift, Ven did as he was told. The foreword did look winded -lasting about five pages front and back- before Ven saw something that nearly made his jaw drop. In the book were full color photographs of natural forests and creeks. The print of the photographs were so pristine that Ven felt like he could just jump in.

“I love it.” he said in a near whisper. “It looks so… familiar.” He looked over at Sabrina before giving a little hum. Sabrina was looking over the necklace as it hung around her neck, falling just in the middle of her breast. Between the lighting of the tree illuminating a bit of her hair, and just her near blank face, something about this moment didn't feel real. And when things didn't feel real, Ven just had to make sure that they were. Ergo, it should not have been a surprise that he placed his head on her shoulder.

Sabrina partially came out of her line of thought to glare at him. She tried to make a half hearted attempt at shaking him off as she told him, “Get your tinsel head off of me.”

“Nope.” he replied with a smirk.

“I'll lay on you if you don't move.”

“I dare ya.”

That was when Sabrina gave one very precise shove, almost knocking Ven completely off to the side if he didn't bob back over. As he sat up straight again, Sabrina had placed her head on his shoulder.

“Checkmate.” she mused. Ven laughed a bit as he moved his head a little to catch a whiff of her hair. Lilac. She always smelled like lilacs. Or lavender. Sometimes both. Too bad she didn't let him indulge in whatever shampoo scent she bathed with for long. She sat back up and stared absently at the ceiling.

“How are you getting home tonight?” she asked him with an almost genuine curiosity. “I doubt any of them actually brought you over, and I sure as hell am not driving you back in the dark.”

Ven recoiled slightly at the idea. “Dunno,” he decided. There was a small pause before he added, “Fuck them.”

Sabrina looked over at him and raised a neatly manicured eyebrow.

“Your grandfather came home?”

“How did you know?” he asked, quite darkly. He refused to look at her- instead bringing his knees closer to his chest. He wasn't going to get mad about it -not yet-, but it was still a sore spot.

Sabrina offered up a callous shrug before admitting, “I guessed. Sorry your family's shittier than mine.”

“Do you think your old man could adopt me? You're home alone so often that if you went insane, no one would even notice.”

“Oh, he'll notice.” Sabrina mused, taking a new candy cigarette out of the box. “You think I'm good at reading people? Take three guesses on who I got it from.”

“Really?” he asked in a small wonder- his eyes hungrily looked at the candy cigarette box, but fully eating one proved to be his allotment for any food at the moment. Talking about family was not helping the growing nausea either.

“It's one thing to be born from money,” Sabrina agreed, giving the candy cigar a few licks before sticking it in her mouth. It didn't long for her to pull it back out with a small 'pop' before adding, “It's another to be barred from the family legacy and still try to make it big. I don't envy what the old man does- let alone the people he has to deal with. Stuff like not making it home for a major holiday rarely happens. He even told me once that he doesn't even accept vacation pay from it.”

“Do you believe him?”

For a long time, she didn't answer him. When she did answer, her voice was small but toneless.

“Do you know how good I can get at lying?”

“Yeah?”

“Take three guesses on who I got it from.”

“Oh...” was all the reply he could give. Slowly, Ven relaxed his legs against the carpet and once more brought his attention to the photography book.

“Hey Sabi?”

“Yeah?”

“Maybe next year will be less shitty for both of us.”

For a moment, Sabrina didn't say a thing. Instead she carefully started to snake her arm around his and hugged it. In a voice that didn't entirely sound like her own, she mumbled back at him, “Yeah. Maybe.”

“Merry Christmas, Sabi.”

“Merry Christmas, Ven.”


End file.
